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Fire Bellied Toads

I`ve just been given a couple of these little creatures from a friend who can no longer look after them. I do have a few questions:
1) How deep should the water in the tank be. Theres about 1 inch at the moment but dont these things lkie to swim? Should I put more in?
2) The water that I put in the tank; Can I just leave a bucket of water for say 12/24 hours or do I need to use special drops? Can I use bottled mineral drinking water if I cant be bothered to wait for water to be ready?
3) The tank seems quite slimey. Is there an easy way to clean the gravel at the bottom out? Or will I have to remove the toads and rinse all the gravel before putting everything back in? Do I have to use de-chlorinated water to rinse everything?
4) When the toads are removed for a complete clean up to they get distressed?
Sorry about all the Q`s!

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

Here`s how I keep them. Mine are in a plastic tub with an inch or so of water. there is a styroform try that double as a floating platform and as a hide box. There is no gravel.
I generally don`t dechlorinate water unless you can smell the chlorine. You only need to dechlorinate water if the chlorine levels are strong. I was taught this by the curator of live animals at the Museum I worked at.
I do take them out to clean the tub out, but then but them back and feed them. They forget that I even took them out at that point lol
Kurt Kunze IPMS/USA Patriot New England Herpetological Society http://www.neherp.com
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Re:Fire Bellied Toads

on the chlorine levels. The levels have to be very high indeed to be able to smell chlorine, but even low levels could be unhealthy for your frogs.
I use plain generic bottled drinking water for all my herps. NOT distilled! stressful for your frogs... the less handling the better. Be sure to wash your hands carefully before picking them up. The oils on human skin can burn frog`s sensitive flesh. fr0glet

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

1.I give mine an inch deep 12" saucer with a rock `island` in the middle. Seems to work good.
2. The water I use sits for a couple of days. I have 3 gallon jugs of tap water that I rotate 1/day.No bad effects as far as I know. Don`t use distilled water. It will dilute their electrolytes and kill them. Regular bottled water is ok too.
3.I don`t use gravel. TOO much trouble. I use white paper towels. Easy to change and cheap. Works good. I don`t have any slime, so don`t know what to tell you. I think I`d sure clean it up, tho. I use only `stale` water for my herps. No big deal to do and why take the chance of infection or reaction to the chlorine?
4. I don`t remove my FBTs to clean. I just carefully work around them. The only time I remove them is if I have to use some chemical to clean. I don`t like to do that, tho, because it is hard to be certain you rinsed all the chemical out. HTH Terry

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

I keep my 4 FBTs in a 20 long aquarium with Jungle Mix as a substrate. For water they have a (never used) kitty litter pan that takes up about half of their tank. I chose this setup over a partitioned tank because it`s so much easier to clean. Just lift the pan out, clean it and refill. No gravel in my tank, it`s a pain to clean and pointless when I`m changing the water every other day.

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

Addendum to my last post: I treat the water in my tank with AmQuel to remove chlorine and chloramines as well as letting it sit for 48 hours. There is a lot of chlorine in my water, you can smell and taste it. I`ve read numerous times that chloramines will not dissipate from sitting, the water must be treated to remove them. I don`t know if my water has chloramines in it or just chlorine but I`m not taking chances.

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

rinsing and dechlorinating every few months would be ideal. When doing regular cleanings it would be best to use dechlor water to rinse everything, but it`s not always practical. You`re toads likely won`t die from the small bit of chlorine they get from rinsing stuff in tap water. The alternative is to let it dry before putting it back in. Chlorine evaporates off with the water. you moving around and give them something to hide in. This should cut down on stress.

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

Thanks for all your answers! I did forget one very important question regarding heat & light:
At the moment the tank I have has a single light and no heater. I keep this tank in my room and at the moment I turn the light off at night. Is this OK? The temp may go down to about 10 or 15 degrees C (50 or 59 degrees F). Is this too cold for them? Although I think they are native to Siberia! And surely having the light switched on 24/7 isnt very natual for them is it?
Should I buy a heater instead and if so what sort?

Re:Fire Bellied Toads

I keep my 4 Fire-Bellied Toads in an aquarium with fish, newts, and snails. There is a built-up area of rocks covering more than 1/3 of the 75 gallon tank. I use the same heat and filter systems and clean the tank as I would any aquarium. For fast connections: www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/e/x/exk7/NewCritterPage.html
Ruth Kazez